CBS Hires, Cancels ‘DEI Strategist’ To Counsel Journalists Upset By Questioning Of Ta-Nehisi Coates

A “CBS Mornings” interview with woke activist Ta-Nehisi Coates has become a fiasco for the news outlet, which is reportedly hired a self-described “mental health expert, DEI strategist, and trauma trainer” to facilitate a discussion with employees upset by the interview before canceling his mediation shortly before the event was to take place.

The situation began on September 30, when Coates sat down with “CBS Mornings” co-anchor Tony Dokoupil to discuss Coates’ new book about the Israel-Gaza conflict. Coates predictably argues in the book that Israel is at fault for the conflict and compares it to his past work on slavery in America.

“For as sure as my ancestors were born into a country where none of them was the equal of any white man, Israel was revealing itself to be a country where no Palestinian is ever the equal of any Jewish person anywhere,” Coates wrote in his book, according to CNN.

Dokoupil pressed Coates on this particular framing.

“I have to say, when I read the book, I imagine if I took your name out of it, took away the awards, the acclaim, took the cover off the book, publishing house goes away, the content of that section would not be out of place in the backpack of an extremist,” Dokoupil said in the interview, according to CNN.

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Dokoupil also pushed Coates to answer why he left out so many facts in the book that are beneficial to Israel.

“Why leave out that Israel is surrounded by countries that want to eliminate it? Why leave out that Israel deals with terror groups that want to eliminate it?” Dokoupil asked.

Coates didn’t get upset or hostile toward Dokoupil’s questioning and responded by saying his book was not supposed to be an exact history of the conflict but about a different perspective, even though the perspective he put forth is the dominating one in academic and media circles.

“I am most concerned, always, with those who don’t have a voice,” Coates told Dokoupil.

Following the interview, some correspondents and producers at CBS complained that Dokoupil was biased toward Israel and showed that bias during his interview with Coates.

On Monday, CBS News and Stations president and CEO Wendy McMahon and her top deputy Adrienne Roark informed staff that the interview did not meet the network’s standards for impartiality, Puck News’ Dylan Byers reported.

This morning, on October 7, CBS News leaders Wendy McMahon & Adrienne Roark told staff that the interview did not meet editorial standards for impartiality, though they declined to elaborate on how or why. When they tried to move on, CBS News chief legal correspondent Jan…

— Dylan Byers (@DylanByers) October 7, 2024

During that meeting, CBS News’ chief legal correspondent Jan Crawford criticized the determination, according to Byers.

“I don’t even understand how Tony’s interview failed to meet our editorial standards,” Crawford said, according to Byers. “I thought our commitment was to truth. When someone comes on our air with a one-sided account of a very complex situation—which Coates himself acknowledges that he has—it’s my understanding that as a journalist we are obligated to challenge that worldview, so that our viewers can have access to the truth and can have a more balanced account…”

“… And that is what Tony did,” Crawford continued. “He challenged Coates’ one-sided worldview, Coates got to respond. It was civil… I don’t see how we can say that it failed to meet our editorial standards…. Tony prevented a one-sided account from being broadcast on our network about a deeply complex situation that completely was devoid of history or fact. As journalists, that’s what we have an obligation to do.”

Crawford: “… And that is what Tony did. He challenged Coates’ one-sided worldview, Coates got to respond. It was civil… I don’t see how we can say that it failed to meet our editorial standards…. Tony prevented a one-sided account from being broadcast on our network about a…

— Dylan Byers (@DylanByers) October 7, 2024

On Monday afternoon, Byers reported that CBS invited Dr. Donald Grant, a self-described “mental health expert, DEI strategist and trauma trainer” to moderate a conversation on the issue during an all-staff meeting set for Tuesday.

UPDATE: CBS News has invited self-described “mental health expert, DEI strategist and trauma trainer” Dr. Donald Grant to moderate conversation on this issue in an all-staff meeting tomorrow. https://t.co/joG8ixX9MV

— Dylan Byers (@DylanByers) October 7, 2024

Grant came under fire earlier this year for altering the cover of Harriet Beecher Stowe’s novel “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” to include the face of Republican Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina, renaming the book “Uncle Tim’s Cabin,” according to the New York Post.

A source close to the situation told the Post that CBS’ hiring of Grant to moderate the discussion was “idiotic” and noted the irony of the network hiring someone who is “insanely racist.”

Shortly before the mediation was set to take place, Byers reported that CBS had canceled Grant’s appearance, without explaining why, and would hold smaller meetings instead.

+ Update: CBS News scrapped plan to include Dr. Donald Grant in this morning’s staff meeting about Dokoupil-Coates interview, and opted to hold multiple meetings with smaller groups (presumably to help prevent leaks).

— Dylan Byers (@DylanByers) October 8, 2024

This post has been updated to show that CBS canceled Dr. Grant’s involvement in discussions.